Health-Care Proposals Redefine Who Is Poor

By

Peter Brown

Aug 12, 2009 7:00 am ET

Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, is a former White House correspondent with two decades of experience covering Washington government and politics. Click here for Mr. Brown’s full bio.

Critics of President Barack Obama’s efforts to overhaul the nation’s health care system have focused on the big numbers – covering 45 million to 50 million more people at a cost of trillions of dollars. But a look at the small picture might raise even more questions for fiscal conservatives.

Most versions of the proposed overhaul floating around Capitol Hill, including the one endorsed by Mr. Obama, define “low-income” people who would be eligible for government subsidies to buy health insurance as including those with incomes almost twice the median household income.

Under the proposal, slightly more than one in five of the nation’s households -– through the redistribution of income in taxes they pay –- could be subsidizing the health insurance of the other four in five families, even though many of those who would receive government largess have incomes well above the national average.

The government, under Mr. Obama’s overhaul, would help buy health insurance for families of four that earn up to $88,000 a year. To put this in perspective, the median household income in the U.S. — the point at which half the households make more and half earn less -– is roughly $50,000.